Abstract
The life histories of two socio-economically different groups of humans comprising birth cohorts from the 1700s and 1800s were investigated. It was discovered that fertility selection was greater among European aristocrats and mortality selection greater among rural Finns. The life history of the rural Finns involved shorter female life spans, a considerably longer period of reproduction, higher juvenile mortality, a greater total production of offspring and slightly higher individual fitness. In a comparison of parental cohorts, it was discovered that longevity and progeny survival improved significantly from the 1700s to the 1800s. Out of the three factors investigated, longevity was found to influence reproduction and fitness more than socio-economic group or birth cohort. The reproductive efficacy and fitness of women increased along with their life span. However, reproductive success and fitness were lower among women with the longest life span (over 80 years). Among men, reproductive success improved consistently along with the increase in longevity. When birth intervals were examined, it was discovered that the sex of previous offspring did not influence the interval between births.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (166.6 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- CROW J. F. Some possibilities for measuring selection intensities in man. Hum Biol. 1958 Feb;30(1):1–13. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hawkes K., O'Connell J. F., Jones N. G., Alvarez H., Charnov E. L. Grandmothering, menopause, and the evolution of human life histories. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Feb 3;95(3):1336–1339. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.3.1336. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Herskind A. M., McGue M., Holm N. V., Sørensen T. I., Harvald B., Vaupel J. W. The heritability of human longevity: a population-based study of 2872 Danish twin pairs born 1870-1900. Hum Genet. 1996 Mar;97(3):319–323. doi: 10.1007/BF02185763. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Korpelainen H. Genetic maternal effects on human life span through the inheritance of mitochondrial DNA. Hum Hered. 1999 Jul;49(4):183–185. doi: 10.1159/000022871. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kär P., Jokela J. Natural selection on age-specific fertilities in human females: comparison of individual-level fitness measures. Proc Biol Sci. 1998 Dec 22;265(1413):2415–2420. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1998.0592. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ligtenberg T., Brand H. Longevity--does family size matter? Nature. 1999 Jun 10;399(6736):522–522. doi: 10.1038/21059. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ligtenberg T., Brand H. Longevity--does family size matter? Nature. 1999 Jun 10;399(6736):522–522. doi: 10.1038/21059. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Linnane A. W., Marzuki S., Ozawa T., Tanaka M. Mitochondrial DNA mutations as an important contributor to ageing and degenerative diseases. Lancet. 1989 Mar 25;1(8639):642–645. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(89)92145-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mace R., Sear R. Birth interval and the sex of children in a traditional African population: an evolutionary analysis. J Biosoc Sci. 1997 Oct;29(4):499–507. doi: 10.1017/s0021932097004999. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Packer C., Tatar M., Collins A. Reproductive cessation in female mammals. Nature. 1998 Apr 23;392(6678):807–811. doi: 10.1038/33910. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Partridge L., Prowse N. The effects of reproduction on longevity and fertility in male Drosophila melanogaster. J Insect Physiol. 1997 Jun;43(6):501–512. doi: 10.1016/s0022-1910(97)00014-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Westendorp R. G., Kirkwood T. B. Human longevity at the cost of reproductive success. Nature. 1998 Dec 24;396(6713):743–746. doi: 10.1038/25519. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]